Embrace of Stone
by Leebot
Summary: Shizuru, trapped in stone during the events of Mai Otome Zwei. A letter written for unseeing eyes...
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** Sorry that my writing has been sparse as of late. I can't make any promises when I'll pick up with my other fics. Tonight, I had to write something like this, to get many of my own emotions out.

X-X-X

**Title:** Embrace of Stone

**Rating:** T

X-X-X

Shizuru...

I love you. I'm in love with you. That hasn't changed. How could it change? I'll never stop loving you, till the day I die.

When I saw you, petrified by that monster, I nearly lost myself. I tried in vain to wake you up, shouting until I broke into tears, collapsing to my knees and holding your petrified legs to myself. Eventually, I was able to gain control of myself long enough to release you and let Youko get back to her work, even though she admitted there was next to zero chance of her being able to save you.

It was bad news, but I tried to at least focus on the sliver of hope she did present. That sliver was all that kept me from trying to drink myself to death that night. If you were truly dead, I don't think I could have let myself live a day longer. But for a one-in-a-million chance of saving you, I would hold on, as hard as it might be.

I wish I could say I simply cried myself to sleep that night, but that would have been too pleasant. I just couldn't sleep. I split my time between lying in bed, crying into my Shizuru-pillow, and wandering around our apartment, looking at every reminder of you and finding new reasons to cry. I must have cried over every individual picture of you in the apartment, plus your tea sets, your clothes, your piano, your desk, your jewelry... It got to the point where I had a splitting headache from dehydration and I just couldn't force anymore tears out.

I've been away from you before, but the apartment never felt so empty. I always knew that you mine, somewhere out there. But are you anymore? Are you in there anywhere, Shizuru, or did you die when that beast froze you in stone? I can't feel your presence in my heart anymore. I can't even feel my heart itself. It might as well have been petrified along with you.

Do you know, Shizuru, how every night when you were away from me, I would give a goodnight kiss to my Shizuru-pillow in your place? When you came in and fell asleep before I got home from work, I always kissed you in your sleep, though I'm sure you know that. I would hold you in my arms every night, or at least the bit of your heart you left for me in my pillow when you went away. But what can I do now? Hug a statue of you, in the doctor's office? In desperation, I tried it, but it was no good... I couldn't feel your heart in there, Shizuru.

My mind and body want to keep on acting like you're still around. I go without my daily tea because I expect you to bring it to me at my desk. In the evenings, the silence worries me until I realize that I was expecting to hear you practice at the piano. I'm cold at night without your arms wrapped around me. But... this never bothered me when you were out on missions... why is it all hitting now?

Maybe it's because I just can't bear the thought of _truly_ being without you. When you were on a mission, it was always temporary, so I could adjust. But how the hell can I adjust to this? Maybe we will save you and things will go back to normal, but I have no idea how that could happen. I'd pray to Shinso for guidance if it weren't already in the enemy's hands.

I love you so much, Shizuru... but love just isn't enough this time. I'm running down to the last of my options. I think I know how you felt when Tomoe held you captive, Shizuru, though I don't have nearly the chance of success you did. Nagi dai Artai has offered information in exchange for his freedom. For your sake, and for the world's, I'm going to make a deal with the devil.

One last thing, Shizuru. I put it off too long, and now I may have missed my chance. I know you won't be able to read this unless I've already saved you and said it myself, but I have to put the words down somewhere. Shizuru, I want to marry you. I don't fucking care what my parents might think about it. If this is life without you, I can't take it. If all this fails, I want to die as your fiancée. If we survive, I'm going to make you my wife.

If we succeed, and it doesn't save you... I...

Your wife-to-be (I _will_ make it happen),

Natsuki Kruger


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** A special thanks this chapter to Midori-Sensei.

X-X-X

**Title:** Embrace of Stone

**Rating:** T

X-X-X

Natsuki...

My first thought was of you, when the monster's grip overcame me. I thought my love for you and my need to survive for your sake would have been enough to overcome anything. I was wrong. Forgive me...

Being petrified like that was hell, pure and simple. I had my senses still, but they were all damped. I could see a little, but it was like looking through a thick fog in the middle of the night. Vague forms passed in front of my eyes, day in and day out. I couldn't recognize anyone or understand anything they said, and eventually it all dissolved into a blur. My mind shut down for periods at a time. I was in a dull dream, a dream of shades of gray.

Gray... and occasionally, a bolt of cobalt blue. I couldn't have figured it out from sight alone, but my mind somehow pieced together all the subtle clues around me. I could feel you, Natsuki. You were with me a lot, I think. You held me, didn't you? And I think you were crying too... I don't know that for sure, but I suspect you would be. I would have cried if I could, over just the pain this was causing you. I can't bear to make you cry, Natsuki. I would have done anything I could to prevent that, but there was just no way...

As much as it hurt to think of you crying like that, I don't think I could have made it if you weren't there for me, Natsuki. I don't know if I'd have gone insane, curled up into the depths of my own mind, or what, but I know this: You saved me, Natsuki. I would never have had the strength to get through that if it weren't for you. I wish I could have done something, anything, to repay you for this.

I can be such an idiot at times. I took you for granted. I acted like you were the one hurting me by keeping our relationship private, so I was in the right to flirt with other girls in front of you to try and get a rise out of you. It was an excuse, and not even a very good one. I just wanted to have my own fun and tease you at the same time. You always looked so cute when you got jealous, I just couldn't help myself. But I was really hurting you, wasn't I, Natsuki? It wasn't like my other teases. You actually minded when I did that. But you never let it affect how you treated me. I never came home at night to find you being cold to me because I'd flirted to much. You put your love for me above those concerns, and just blamed yourself for my behavior.

You're not at fault, Natsuki. I am. You were always the strong one in our relationship. I did dumb things to create problems: groping you when you asked to be my heya-gakkari, all my flirting, Tomoe... Shinso, I have still haven't told you what happened with Tomoe. I didn't cheat on you, I swear... Yet still, I hide the truth. I fear to think what suspicions might be going through your mind. You've never brought it up, but I'm sure it does plague you.

I wish I could tell you now, Natsuki. I want to scream out my confession, but I can't move a muscle. I let her kiss me. I even kissed her back, though I thought of you all the time. To escape, I had to let her gain confidence, so I... Shinso, it hurts just to think about it. I let her undress me. I let her play with my breasts until she was so entranced I could knock her out with one blow. The blow was stronger than it needed to be, I'm sure, but not nearly as strong as she deserved. She should count her blessings I didn't throw her body out the window after making me betray you like that.

I do love you, Natsuki, despite all this. If I ever get out of this stone prison, I'll make it up to you, I swear. I'm not perfect. You know that better than anyone, but you love me through it all. But I'm yours, Natsuki. Body and soul.

All I want, Natsuki, is to tell you I love you once more. I'm thinking of you every moment. If you see a tear drip from eyes, that's for you.

I love you, Suki.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:** This chapter comes with a special dedication to chatterbox-hikaru13. It's thanks to her I could write this. Also, thanks to everyone who reviewed. You all really helped to keep me going.

X-X-X

**Title:** Embrace of Stone

**Rating:** T

X-X-X

_~Shizuru's POV~_

She saved me. Natsuki saved me. That was all I could think as I was plunged back into the real world. I wanted to run off and find her, then immediately sweep her off into my arms, steal her away to our bedroom, pin her to the bed, and screw the hell out of her.

Unfortunately, my body still wasn't responding to me. It wasn't like being petrified, fortunately. It was just sapped of energy. It may have prevented me from properly showing my love to Natsuki, but I could live with it. I knew it would pass. I was alive.

I might also have been practically unconscious, but I was alive.

_~Natsuki's POV~_

"It appears you succeeded. It took some work though."

The words themselves barely registered in my mind. It was the voice that mattered – Miyu's. Only Shizuru's voice would have been any more welcome at that time, but there was no way in hell I was going to argue with the circumstances. I rushed to the infirmary, sparing only enough thought to keep myself from trampling over Yukino. She had just as much reason to run as I did. She just didn't have the training I did, so I beat her by a fair margin.

The thought briefly passed my mind that I'd hardly have any privacy to properly welcome Shizuru, but I pushed it out of my mind. I'd made my decision. I wasn't going to hide anymore. I wanted the whole world to know that Shizuru was mine.

_~Shizuru's POV~_

Natsuki was kissing me. I'm pretty sure I was blushing, and I'm absolutely positive that I was kissing her back to the best of my ability. The only thing that didn't make sense to me at the time was the fact that there were other people in the room.

Natsuki said the sweetest things to me in brief breaks from our kisses. She said she loved me in every way imaginable. By the end, I was suffering from a full-body blush and trying to bury my head in her chest. At last, she let me do so, as she just wrapped her arms around my body and rocked me gently.

I was drifting off, but I heard murmurs coming from other people in the room. The only words I could make out, though, were Natsuki's: "Don't act so surprised."

X-X-X

Natsuki is quite simply the best fiancée I could imagine. I know we haven't even been engaged a full night yet, but I stand by my assessment. Her proposal held me melting, and then she gladly melted for me afterwards, even setting a new stamina record for herself. I'd thought she was completely passed out at that point, but she still had one final surprise waiting for me, as she spoke just three words in her sleep.

"Desk... bottom... left..."

Natsuki didn't seem to be forthcoming with anymore information, so I planted a kiss on her forehead – prompting a lovely blush to form in her cheeks – and left to check the desk in her study. There was nothing on the bottom-left corner of it, so I checked the bottom-left drawer. Some spare papers and envelopes were kept there, but I dug through them until I found a handwritten letter hidden at the bottom.

It was Natsuki's handwriting. She'd written this while I was petrified a few weeks ago. My heart nearly broke, even before I started to read it. The ink on the page was smeared in a few places from where tears had struck the page, and the writing was much messier than even Natsuki's standard scrawl. As I started to read, Natsuki's words clutched my heart and tied me to the page. I couldn't stop reading until I was done, even as tears built up in my eyes and then broke free.

_Natsuki... were you really in that much pain? I'm so sorry... I'd do anything to take that away from you. But... but we're together now, aren't we? And to know you love me this much..._

A smile formed on Shizuru's face. She wiped her tears away and placed the letter on the desk, returning to her sleeping lover. Natsuki had somehow found the energy to wrap her arms a pillow and tuck her head into it, almost as if she was trying to be as absolutely adorable as possible for Shizuru. Smiling once again at her love, Shizuru slipped into bed with her, lying behind Natsuki and wrapping her arms around the girl.

"Thank you, Suki," she whispered. "I'll never leave you again. I promise."


End file.
